Australia has recorded more cases of the highly infectious Covid-19 variant which has forced England into lockdown. The UK variant is believed to be up to 70 percent more infectious than the original, causing havoc in England and prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order a new national lockdown until at least mid-February. Victorian Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the state had seen up to five cases of the UK strain so far. "(Our) job is to make sure that our hotel quarantine system is as robust and strong as possible, that this does not get out, whether it's the UK strain or any other strain," she said. Another international strain - a South African variant - was detected in a woman who arrived in Queensland on December 22 who went straight into hotel quarantine.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 05, 2021 07:07 UTC